禪關策進 1.73

1.73

諸大德何不起大精進。對三寶前深發重願。若生死不明。祖關不透。誓不下山。向長連床上七尺單前。高掛鉢囊。壁立千仞。盡此一生。做教徹去。若辦此心。決不相賺。如其發心不真。志不猛勵。這邊經冬。那邊過夏。今日進前。明日退後。久久摸索不著。便道般若無靈驗。却向外邊。記一肚。抄一部。如臭糟瓶相似。聞者未免惡心嘔吐。直做到彌勒下生。有何干涉。苦哉。

Why do you venerable ones not arouse great vigor, and before the Three Jewels deeply make a solemn vow: 'If birth and death are not clarified and the ancestral barrier is not penetrated, I swear not to descend the mountain. Before a seven-foot mat on the long continuous meditation bench, I shall hang my bowl-sack high, stand like a wall towering thousands of fathoms, and for the rest of this life carry it through to full penetration.' If you manage to arouse such a mind, it will definitely not deceive you. If the resolve of the mind is not genuine and the will is not fierce and strenuous—passing the winter here and the summer there, advancing today and retreating tomorrow—fumbling without grasp for a long time, you will then say that prajñā has no efficacy. You will turn outward instead, memorizing a bellyful and copying an entire volume, resembling a foul dregs-bottle, so that those who smell it cannot help feeling nauseated and vomiting. Even if you practice this way until Maitreya descends to be born, what relevance does it have? How bitter!